As November begins and people are coming off their Halloween sugar rush, they jump straight into the Christmas spirit. With holiday jingles dominating the radio and Christmas decor taking over the stores, Thanksgiving is losing more appreciation every year. The warm holiday of sharing not only food, but gratitude for family and friends is slowly losing meaning due to over excitement for Christmas.
While many were still celebrating Halloween in the early hours of Nov. 1, the first video anyone would find across any social media platform was Mariah Carey’s debut to the Christmas season. When Carey says, “It’s time,” others are planning their extravagant Thanksgiving meal to share with their family. The iconicism of the video is great to look forward to, but is it really time?
As of November 2024, Christmas shopping has replaced Thanksgiving preparation. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), with holiday spending rates increasing, they find that many gifts are being purchased before Thanksgiving. “NRF defines the winter holidays as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31; however, in recent years, more consumers have started to check items off their lists early¨. People will inevitably buy their friends and family gifts before the holidays, but November is a bit early.
While driving in the car on a cool November day, does your music ever get interrupted by an obnoxious, overused Christmas commercial? I know mine has. Over time, Christmas advertisements have been popping up everywhere across all forms of media: candy, clothes or toys. But very few to no advertisements on materials to make your Thanksgiving dinner the very best it can be.
Both Christmas and Thanksgiving have many similarities; sitting around with the people you love, enjoying a big meal and making life-lasting memories. The only difference is the money spent on both. The biggest time for retail is Christmas. An article about retail from ABC News claims “new data from Bank of America paints a so-called ‘Tale of Two Wallets,’ finding that higher earners are expected to make more purchases than lower-income consumers, and those lower earners will look to make purchases earlier than usual.” All in all, not many look forward to Thanksgiving because it is found to be a “filler” holiday, something to get us through until winter break, but it is so much more. The hype of Christmas, whether that be decorating, shopping or even baking, is making the holiday about showing appreciation less understood. Fewer people look forward to Thanksgiving because it is found to be a “filler” holiday, but it is so much more.
